Temperate

The Temperate team is responsible for the curation of 90 plant families and is actively engaged in collaborative projects with botanical institutions throughout Temperate regions of the world.

The Temperate regional team undertakes botanical research and handles enquiries concerning the Temperate regions of the world (including Europe and the British Isles, the Middle East and Southwest Asia, Russia, India, China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Australia, USA and Canada). The Team deals with all curatorial matters of the allocated plant families, herbarium loan requests (both material and images), plant related queries, research visitors, students, research projects (including floristic research, flora writing, collaborative fieldwork, vegetation surveys, teaching) and horticultural taxonomy in the Temperate region.

The Temperate team is actively involved in contributing towards the completion of regional floras: Flora of China, Flora of Pakistan, Flora of Iraq, Flora of Oman and Flora of Tropical East Africa. In addition an up-to-date Checklist of the plants of the Arabian Peninsula and a regional checklist of the halophytes of SW Asia is under preparation.

Collaborative fieldwork is an integral part of our research. Through links with botanical institutions around the world we are able to lead floristic research and enrich Kew’s Herbarium and Living Collections, facilitating global access to plant biodiversity information. Recent fieldwork includes an expedition to Southwest China to collect Caprifoliaceae in collaboration with the Kunming Institute of Botany, an expedition to collect Linnaeaceae in Kyrgyzstan in collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences in Kyrgyzstan, fieldwork in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt in collaboration with Helwan University in Egypt, and training for the preparation of the National Red List of Plants of Mongolia with the University of Mongolia.

The team is also involved in several consultancies in the Arabian Peninsula and Jordan. These projects include vegetation surveys and restoration of degraded habitats, working closely with Horticulture and the Millennium Seed Bank. The Team is also involved in providing information on the layout of the Herbarium and training staff in herbarium work.

Through horticultural taxonomy the Temperate team provides a vital link between the Herbarium and Kew’s Living Collections in the Gardens. Our aim is to ensure the highest taxonomic standards of naming for Kew’s Living Collections through an ongoing process of verification.

With our Honorary Research Associate, the team has contributed significantly towards the World IUCN Red List Assessment of Conifers, and has databased Kew’s holdings of all herbarium specimens of conifers.

2009 International workshop on Urbanisation, Land use, Land degradation and Environment, 29 September –2 October. Paper presented: Restoring Saline Habitats: Identification and Name Changes in Halophytes of the Arabian Peninsula.